Faith and Folly: The 30-day challenge

By Jack Telfer

Published 7:00 pm, Saturday, January 23, 2010

If you have been listening to Family Life Radio of late, you have heard announcers ask listeners to take the 30-day challenge. The challenge is to listen only to Christian radio for 30 days and see the impact it has on your life.

I can attest to the change that will occur. I took the challenge 15 years ago and have never turned back. There are five Christian radio stations serving the mid-Michigan area. I listen to all of them, but am most loyal to Family Life Radio, in part because station manager Peter Brooks is a good friend of mine. What I have found is that listening to faith-filled, encouraging music does affect my outlook. Some days, I find myself singing in the car while driving to and from work. Other days, I meditate on the words of a song or a topic being discussed. Always, I am lifted up by the positive message.

The drawback is I don’t know much about contemporary music stars outside of the Christian music world. But I also don’t spend time listening to lyrics and music that might not be honoring to God.

A number of verses from the Bible seem to encourage us to avoid being influenced by things that dishonor the Lord. For example, the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:23 says, “Everything is permissible — but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible — but not everything is constructive.” In Philippians 4:8, Paul says, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

If you have never listened to a Christian radio station before, you might want to take the 30-day challenge. It could change your life.